130 SNAKES. 



edge of a thimble, I saw the end of it moving of itself, an 

 orifice contracting and closing tight, by the loose skin 

 puckering up, so to speak. Presently it opened, and by 

 and by again closed tight, as you see the breathing orifice 

 of the octopus contract and expand, open and close, at 

 regular intervals, only in the present case the intervals were 

 not regular. This strange tube, then, had life and volition 

 in it ! What could it be } 



Suddenly a certain day of one's childhood flashed into 

 my mind, and a certain scene of home. One Michaelmas 

 Day it was, when, having stolen surreptitiously into the 

 kitchen to coax the cook to ' let me see the goose ! ' I found 

 her busy preparing the bird, and clambered into a chair to 

 watch her. * What's that ? ' I demanded, seeing part of a 

 long, pipe-like looking thing lying there. 



* Oh, that's the windpipe. That's like what you've got 

 in your throat ; and that's where the crumbs get to make 

 you choke so,' in allusion to a recent occurrence. 



I gazed with awe and interest at that very strange thing, 

 and wondered if it really could be like anything in my own 

 throat, and where it began and ended, and so on. And 

 that goose's windpipe was indelibly stamped on my 

 memory. 



And now that scene came vividly back to me, for there 

 was a windpipe sort of look about this appendage to the 

 snake's jaw, only it did not appear to be bruised or injured, 

 in any way. Nor from the position of the duck (by this 

 time half swallowed) could it belong to the bird. And, 

 again, it moved with an independent motion ! 



And now the snake threw up its head, to free the legs of 



